Eni strikes oil offshore Congo-Brazzaville

Created: Thursday, 30 October 2014 08:22

Eni, through its subsidiary Eni Congo, is operator of Marine XII with a 65 per cent share stake. (Image source: Eni)Eni has struck oil in the Minsala Marine exploration prospect that located in the Marine XII Block offshore Congo-Brazzaville

Situated 35 km from the shoreline and 12 km from the recent Nené Marine discovery, the Minsala Marine 1 well was drilled in 75 metres of water depth and reached a total depth of 3,700 metres.

The well encountered a significant accumulation of light oil in the Lower Cretaceous age pre-salt sequence, passing through a hydrocarbon column of 420 metres. Eni preliminary estimates put the potential of the Minsala Marine discovery at about one billion barrels of oil equivalent in place, of which 80 per cent oil.

Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said, “It has been over four years since Eni started exploring the shallow water pre-salt plays of West Africa, and this campaign continues to deliver great results. We have already discovered about four billion barrels of oil equivalent in place, between Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon. In Congo-Brazzaville, this is the third discovery to be successfully drilled in the Marine XII permit pre-salt play, following the Litchjendily and Nene Marine discoveries, which are both already under development.

“These discoveries are located in conventional waters near existing infrastructure and can, therefore, be brought into production in very competitive time to market and cost. This result also demonstrates Eni’s strong technical competences and the effectiveness of Eni’s exploration technologies, especially given the technical complexity of exploring the West African pre-salt plays.”

The Italian explorer has already planned the appraisal plan of the discovery as well as started studies for the commercial development of the discovered hydrocarbons reserves.